Bungie’s Destiny ARG

Make sure you are on Saturday’s entry (click on the “2” at the top). Enter the password:

NOTE: If you’re using Firefox and want to help out even more, check out this thread. Bungie.net user Sunburned Goose has figured out a way to automate the process, allowing you to contribute all day without lifting a finger!

Each day a new challenge is posted and a new password is required. (It’s updated at 12:00/midnight PST.) Check back here tomorrow for the next password!

When should I do it?

Whenever you can, but for added effect do it in the first five minutes of each hour.

Want to score a critical hit? Help us flood the site at 11:00am PST (2:00pm EST, 7:00pm GMT).

Do I need to save the images?

No. Not anymore. The Bungie community has fancy scripts set up to collect and decipher the images being produced.

How is this helping?

When you correctly enter your password (“activate your node”) a point of light is created on a globe based on your IP address. Something like this, but in 3-D:

Each activated node lasts for 5 minutes. The globe is then run through a series of transformations (mirroring, duplication, etc.) to create the image you see on the right side of the ARG page (“geomask.png”).

The globe is slowly rotating; by combining multiple pictures over the span of an hour we get something like the below gif, where you can almost make out the shape of North America (particularly Florida):

Each geomask image is then used to hide data in a piece of Destiny art, producing the image you see on the left side of the ARG page (“output.png”). The Bungie community has figured out how to take the geomask and decipher the output images to uncover part of the “URL image”. Here is an image showing the gradual reveal of the URL in Wednesday’s challenge as more and more users added their nodes to the geomask:

Each time you access the ARG and correctly enter your password (once every five minutes) you add a new pixel to the “URL image”. Since the geomask is built using a globe, users in different parts of the Earth add unique areas to the solution. The more users active within each five-minute window, the more pixels each user contributes. (That’s why we want everyone to try logging in at the same time – top of the hour.)

Why does this matter? Isn’t Bungie going to reveal the game on Sunday anyways?

Yes, Destiny’s reveal will happen whether we solve the ARG or not. I am confident Bungie has something else planned for the end of the ARG. Something special. Maybe it’s the first Destiny screenshot, or a gameplay video. Nobody knows yet. The only way to find out is to keep solving each day’s puzzle.

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If you would like to see more about this ARG and the many theories connected to it, check out this page: http://misriahsolutions.com/arg2/ (This includes all of the comments and info from the previous iteration of this ARG page. Also feel free to check out my Twitter page for the latest details: http://twitter.com/ncsuDuncan)